Now I Get It – Stupid People Love Rich People Who Don’t Pay Taxes

Thank You, Donald, For Sharing That With Us

A Commentary by Doug Draper

Posted September 27th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

In the weeks leading up to last year’s federal election in Canada, a few candidates and even fewer media outlets attempted to make an issue of the fact that members of super-rich in this country are flying billions of dollars to off-shore tax havens so they don’t have to do what most mortal Canadians have to do to avoid criminal charges – pay taxes.

A public broadcaster, to its credit – TV Ontario – aired a documentary a number of times before the election called “The Great Canadian Tax Dodge” – detailing how government-sponsored loopholes in the tax laws care allowing an estimated $200 billion a year to fly off to tax havens, leaving the rest of us holding the bag for covering the costs of health care and other necessary public services.

I’m watching and reading reports about all of this high-flying tax dodging, and I’m thinking – naively or stupidly perhaps – where is the outrage? Why aren’t Canadians standing up, en masse, and demanding that this be an issue in the election, and that candidates and the parties they were running for either draw up a plan to address it or get creamed at the polls.

But there was no real outrage. Could it be a majority of people, as much as they may find themselves, in their own lives, struggling to pay taxes and put food on the table at the same time, secretly wish that they were rich enough to hire a team of lawyers and accountants to fix it so they don’t have to pay taxes too?

How else do you explain so many people voting in candidates and parties that continue allowing the super rich a path to tax loopholes large enough for a fleet of brinks trucks to drive through enroute to the nearest international airport?

In the federal election raging on in the United States, the only major candidate in the presidential race who railed against billionaires not paying their fair share of taxes was Bernie Sanders, and we can see how far that got him.

So now the race is down to Hillary Clinton, who has made more than a quarter-of-a-million dollars a pop delivering speeches to hedge fund traders on Wall Street, confronting Donald Trump during their globally watched September 26th debate with the fact that the only tax returns he has ever been forced to release over the past couple of decades show that he never paid a penny in federal taxes.

“That makes me smart,” responded Trump, who can’t seem to say anything outrageous enough to turn off the thousands of mostly white, working class folks who cram arenas and cheer him on at his rallies.

It’s a love-in at those rallies. The Donald tried to tell the rest of us that earlier on in his run for the world’s most powerful office- “I love the under-educated,” he said, and oh how they love a celebrity billionaire who brags about not paying taxes.

That makes him smart, and it puts a slightly different spin on the line “only the little people pay taxes,” once so infamously uttered by his late comrade in gold bullion, New York holelier Leona Hemsley.

In Trump’s twilight zone, “only stupid people pay taxes,” and how stupid of me not to get the lack of outrage over rich people not paying taxes until, in one of his scrambled-egg rants, the creature with the orange comb over, clued me in.

To watch a trailer for the TVO-aired documentary, ‘The Great Canadian Tax Dodge’, click on –

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“A politician thinks of the next election. A leader thinks of the next generation.” – Bernie Sanders

2 responses to “Now I Get It – Stupid People Love Rich People Who Don’t Pay Taxes”

I remember “sweet” Leona’s remark very well. She even paid other prisoners to do her jobs in jail.

I thought the best line in the debate was Clinton ‘s response to Trump’s “I’m smart” that’s why I pay no taxes. “You paid zero for the military, zero for health, zero for education”, etc. He says he will cut taxes and yet do so many wonderful things. What a joke. Amazing how stupid people will still vote for that clown because he is “one of them”. Sure Hillary is a shyster and a money bag and probably has lots of loopholes too but at least she revealed her IRS report (as every presidential candidate has done for decades) and did pay taxes. He says he can’t reveal his because they are under audit. A total lie. He is hiding something. The question is what? He’s been bankrupt several times and stiffs his workers. His employees also get zero benefits (maternity leave, health care, etc.).

Lots of Canadian millionaires pay no taxes either and even apply for government grants….which they get. Their money is all hidden and they have loopholes out their ying yang.

For everybody here that complains about the amount of taxes you pay, this is largely in part due to the fact we are supporting politicians that folks think are “great business people” who don’t pay any taxes at all and will continue down that trajectory should they be elected, while you and I will continue to carry the burden for health care, education, etc. If you really want to lower your tax burden then support the movement to force those earning $200,000 or more to pay more taxes and to cut loopholes for people in this bracket.